as the celerity of Motion in the former exceeds all belief so the Regularity of Motion is unfathomable in this The Motion of the Earth is of hard enough digestion in it self but supposing it to move in a fluid Medium who is there that can imagine that it should be so regular and uniform as it is The fluid with which it is environ'd and in which it moves is unstable and mutable consisting of little Bodies that are always altering their position to one another and changing their shapes by constant and mutual Attrition and yet tho' the Ambient Fluid be always altering the motion is the same It describes our days by its Diâ—rnal Motion upon its own Axis our years by its Annual Revolution and our Seasons by that and its Inclination and all these so regularly as not to vary in so many Successions of Ages and yet we must believe that this Constancy and Regularity is maintained by fluctuating matter the most unstable thing in the world The exactest Movements or Machines that humane Wit can frame are Subject to innumerable disorders either from the breaking of the Spring of their Motion or wearing of their wheels or some other external impulse or inward decay and therefore always want our care either to set them right or keep them in order only this vast Machine and Frame of things preserves its Course and never varies tho' acted in appearance by the most unconstant Causes A Man that well considers this will be inclin'd to entertain a more favourable opinion of the Ancient Philosophers and tho' he cannot believe the Heavens to be turn'd and acted by Intelligences yet he would find it almost as hard to apprehend how they move without them whatever become of Intelligences an Intelligent Being must of necessity be taken in without which our Philosophy will be very unable to do the business There is another difficulty in this Hypothesis which the Copernicans cannot easily get over and which will perplex any Man's understanding that well considers it That the Earth is only a point in respect to the Universe tho' it be a pretty large Postulatum yet possibly must be granted upon any Hypothesis but that not only the Earth but the whole Magnus Orbis or that vast Orbit which the Earth describes round the Sun should be esteem'd a point without which supposition the Copernican Hypothesis cannot be maintain'd is such a Postulatum in Astronomy as the more a Man thinks of the less easily he can assent to For what is this Magnus Orbis or vast Circle which must be esteem'd as a point To take only the Semidiameter of this Circle or about the sixth part of the whole Hugenius m Cosmotheor p. 124. no incompetent Judge of these matters has calculated the distance betwixt the Earth and the Sun to be about 17 Million German Miles or in other words that supposing a Bullet shot from a Gun could retain always the same velocity it had at its first discharge with this swiftness in about twenty five years it would pass from the Earth to the Sun All which immense distance is about a sixth part of Copernicus's point It is true Hugenius assigns a proportionable distance if there can be any proportion in such an immensity to the fix'd Stars for this Bullet being shot again with the same swiftness he n Ib. p. 137. supposes it might come at the nearest of the fixt Stars in about 700 years which is such a distance as common apprehensions cannot reach and will once more require a Philosophers Understanding In this vast compass our Astronomers have discover'd new Worlds like that Sanguine Conqueror who was seeking out New Worlds before the old one was half subdu'd every Planet must be a World and ever Star must have its Planets this Project was pursu'd by M. Fontanelle in a pleasing entertaining way but has been embrac'd by others with greater seriousness What these Worlds are might as well be left undetermined God having thought fit to say little of them and having plac'd them beyond our reach But if we may guess at the discoveries that are to be made in the remotest Stars from those that have been made already in the nearest the Moon I do not think they will make any great addition to knowledge It must be confest that mighty discoveries have been talkt of in that Planet Hevelius has given us its Geography and has markt out o Selenograph p. 226. every Mountain and Vally Sea and River as exactly as if he had been there in his accurate Map of that World Ricciolus p Almagest p. 204. has gone a little farther and has assign'd every Astronomer his proportion of ground you may there meet with the Land of Copernicus Galilaeus and Kepler and it is but just that they should have the benefit of their Invention And the same Author to show his modesty has plac'd Ricciolus in the best and most Conspicuous spot of Ground in that World But are these Men in earnest Or do we yet know where we are That the Moon is an Opake Body is no new discovery the nature of Eclipses has long since shewn it and I am affraid it is little we yet know beyond this For tho' the Moon has been divided into Sea and Land and the Division so much acknowledged that a Man's parts must have been suspected that would have doubted of the thing and tho' the obscure parts of its Body have been generally thought to be Watery and the Luminous parts Earthy and Solid yet this Division seems rather to be grounded upon an inference of Reason to wit that the obscure and Watery parts imbibe the Light whereas the Earthy Solid parts reflect it than upon the experience of Sense assisted by Glasses These Glasses indeed discover the difference betwixt the dark and Luminous parts much more clearly than the naked eye can but will never show the nature of either or what Substance they are of much less distinguish the different portions of Earth and Water But Men come possess'd with an opinion of Seas and Rivers and then easily think they see them as every sound does answer the tune that runs in our ears and after one Man has seen them it is a reproach to the next not to be as acute and distinguishing as he and so we cheat one another into a tolerable agreement That this is the Case I am verily perswaded for tho' I can neither pretend to good eyes nor good Glasses and therefore will lay no weight upon my own opinion yet Hugenius who had them in perfection and who writ since these accurate Maps were taken could neither observe Seas nor Rivers in the Moon and expresly denys that any such are to be seen there q Cosmotheor p. 114. And there is this reason besides that if any such were they must necessarily raise a mighty Atmosphere which as it would hinder our clear prospect at all times so by its clouds it would
no Principle at all unless we will allow that for one Principle that is destructive of another He tells us that all knowledge is to be derived from the Sense and yet presently forsakes that and flies to Reason But his Philosophy is enough decry'd already and needs not be brought lower than it is I need not here reckon up the opinions of other Ancient Philosophers most of them have been reviv'd and have been again confuted and have dyed the second time in our own Age The opinion of Thales and the Ionic Sect in making Water the Principle of all things has been reviv'd by those who have attempted to explicate a Deluge from such an Original And the Opinion of Pythagoras and the Italic Sect in placing the Sun in the Center of the World and ascribing motion to the Earth has been maintainâ—d a-new by Copernicus and his Followers and tho Transmigration of Souls be one of Pythagoras's hardest sayings yet it has found a Patron of late in a Countryman of our own e Mr. Bulstrâ—de who has maintain'd it in a qualifi'd Sense which perhaps was as much as Pythagoras meant An Anima Mundi Prae-existence of Souls with the rest of Plato's Opinions have found a strong party in their defence and many other late Opinions which have little in them except their novelty to recommend them to the World do really want that too and might be easily shown to be only the Spawn of the Ancient Philosophers by whom as there is nothing so absurd that has not been said so they have scarce said any thing so extravagant wherein they have not been follow'd But among all the ancient Opinions none have been reviv'd with more general approbation than those of Democritus and Epicurus the Founders of the Atomical or Corpuscular Philosophy an ill Omen to Religion when they who have explicated the production of the world by the Laws of Mechanism without a God have been so generally follow'd In this M. Des Cartes has been too successful whom tho it would be very unjust to charge with denial of a God whom he supposeh to have created Matter and to have impressed the first motion upon it yet in this he is blameable that after the first motion is impress'd and the wheels set a going he leaves his vast Machine to the Laws Mechanism and supposeth that all things may be thereby produc'd without any further extraordinary assistance from the first impressor The supposition is impious and as he states it destructive of it self for not to deny him his Laws of motion most of which have been evidently shown to be false and consequently so must all be that is built upon them his Notion of Matter is inconsistent with any Motion at all for as Space and Matter are with him the same upon this supposition there can be no vacuum and there can be no Motion in a Plenum Motion is only the succession of Bodies from one place to another but how should they succeed from one place if there be no room to receive them in the next which there cannot be if all be full And the difficulty is still greater upon the first framing of things before the subtile matter is produc'd that was to suit it self to all the little Interstices betwixt the larger solid Bodies which must needs clog and interfere with one another unless we will allow some fluid matter that will yield and give way to the other's motions M. Des Cartes imagines he answers all this by a succession of Bodies in a Circular Motion but I think this Motion carries its own Confutation with it and that nothing can be suppos'd more absurd than to imagine that upon the motion of every little Atome the whole frame of things must be disturb'd and set a going Motion is one of M. Des Cartes's darling Principles and by this and Matter he pretends to solve the greatest difficulties that are in Nature and it is very remarkable that he has not fail'd more in any of his Notions than in these two great Fundamentals of his Philosophy for allowing him these his other explications hang together somewhat better But this it is to frame Hypothesis out of one's own imagination without consulting Nature which Mr. Des Cartes has not done for it was equal to him what Hypothesis he went upon and had Father Mersennus f V. Rapin Reflex p. 423. told him that a vacuum was as much in fashion and as agreeable to the taste of the Age as a Plenum then seem'd to be we should have had an Hypothesis grounded upon a vacuum and no doubt as specious and plausible as that we now have perhaps more plausible being more consonant to his own Sense as having been his first design and the other only hammer'd out by the direction of his Confident Mersennus And it is a wonderful thing that Men should run mad after such an Hypothesis which as it has not the least ground in Nature so the Author himself never believ'd it It has been answer'd and effectually confuted in all its Branches by several hands but by none better than the Author of A Voyage to the World of Des Cartes which tho not always conclusive is every where ingenious and confutes him in his own way for one Romance is best answer'd by another But we have been taught to distinguish betwixt Hypotheses and Theories the latter of which are shrewd things as being built upon Observations in Nature whereas Hypotheses may be only Chimaeras I should be glad to see that Theory that is built upon such Observations The most plausible Theory I have yet met with is only built upon an Hypothesis to wit the Incrustation of the Earth and the cracking of its Cortex the very same in substance we have been speaking of and how this Theory should be more certain than the Hypothesis it goes upon is past my understanding Thus much I believe may be said of all our Theories That however natural they may seem at first view they have always some mark in nature set upon them to discover them to be false Thus Dr. B's Theory of the Incrustation of the Earth is very ingenious but then there is no sufficient Provision made for Antidiluvian Waters much less for Springs and Rivers which can neither be generated nor flow in Streams without Mountains Mr. W's Theory shows a vast reach and depth in it's Contrivance both in his accounting for the formation of things and in his Explication of a Deluge But his Paradisiacal days are so long by his allowing only an annual motion to the Earth in that State as to exceed all belief and tho' he makes a tolerable shift to supply us with such stores of Waters from the Atmosphere of a Comet as might occasion a Deluge yet it is impossible for him to carry them off again after the occasion is over and for ought I can see they must have continu'd with us till the return of his Comet So that
satisfaction It is that which satisfies and never satiates which the deeper it is look'd into pleaseth the more as containing new and hid Treasures by the opening whereof there always springs up in the mind fresh pleasure and new desire Whereas Humane Writings like all humane things cloy by their continuance and we can scarce read them the second time without irksomeness and oftentimes not without nauseating those fine things that please so wonderfully at the first reading The Sum of all is this we busie our selves in the search of Knowledge we tire out our Thoughts and wast our Spirits in this pursuit and afterwards flatter our selves with mighty Acquirements and fill the World with Volumes of our Discoveries Whereas would we take as much pains in discovering our Weakness and Defects as we spend time in Oftentation of our Knowledge we might with half the time and pains see enough to show us our Ignorance and might thereby learn truer Wisdom We frame to our selves New Theories of the World and pretend to measure the Heavens by our Mathematical Skill that is Indefinite Space by a Compass or Span whilst we know little of the Earth we tread on and every thing puzzles us that we meet with there We live upon the Earth and most Men think they rest upon it and yet it is a very difficult Question in Philosophy whether the Earth rests or moves and is it not very wonderful that we should be such strangers to the place of our Abode as to know nothing whether we rest there or travel a daily Circuit of some thousand Miles We rack our Inventions to find out Natural Reasons for a Deluge of Waters by fetching down Comets from above and cracking the Cortex of the Earth to furnish out sufficient stores for that purpose and yet from the Convexity of the Waters it is hard to account in the Course of Nature why there should not bea Deluge every day And perhaps Providence is the surest Bar that has set Bounds to the Waters which they shall not pass We are not only puzzled by things without us but we are strangers to our own Make and Frame for tho' we are convinced that we consist of Soul and Body yet no Man hitherto has sufficiently described the Union of these two or has been able to explain how Thought should move Matter Or how Matter should act upon Thought Nay the most Minute things in Nature if duly considered carry with them the greatest wonder and perplex us as much as things of greater bulk and show And yet we who know so little in the smallest matters talk of nothing less than New Theories of the World and vast Fields of Knowledge busying our selves in Natural Enquiries and flattering our selves with the wonderful Discoveries and mighty Improvements that have been made in Humane Learning a great part of which are purely imaginary and at the same time neglecting the only true and solid and satisfactory Knowledge Things that are obscure and intricate we pursue with eagerness whilst Divine Truths are usually disregarded only because they are easie and common Or if there be some of an higher nature they shall possibly be rejected because they are above or seemingly contrary to Reason whilst we admit several other things without scruple which are not reconcil able with Revelation tho Revealed Truths be certainly Divine and the other either no Truths at all or at the best only Humane This sort of Conduct is very preposterous for after all true Wisdom and satisfactory Knowledge is only to be had from Revelation and as to other Truths which are to be collected from Sense and Reason our Ignorance of them will always be so much greater than our Knowledge as there are a thousand things we are ignorant of to one thing that we throughly know APPENDIX WHilst I have been free in censuring others faults I ought to be ready to acknowledge my own I never doubted but I was as subject to them as other men tho upon a serious review of my Book I have not yet met with many and such as I thought material I have Corrected The great Objection that has been made by my Friends is rather a Defect than a Fault I am told by them my Conclusion is too Short and that I ought to have enlarg'd upon the necessity of Revelation This I am sensible of and freely own the Charge but have neither time nor opportunity now to redress it and besides the Argument has been so well and largely treated of by other Hands that little new can be said upon the Subject On the other side I have receiv'd Letters and Papers from several Hands which flatter me with an opinion that I have done somewhat well some of which it would have been an advantage both to my self and Book to have publish'd But I deny my self herein only make this small but grateful acknowledgment to the Worthy Persons from whom they came FINIS AN Answer to the Dissenters Pleas for Separation or an Abridgment of the London Cases wherein the Substance of those Books is digested into one short and plain Discourse By Tho. Bennet M. A. and Fellow of St. John's College in Cambrige Printed for A. Bosvile at the Sign of the Dial against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street Price 4 s.